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Let’s go for a spin

Colleen and Steven Murphy are the band Westminster Park. The duo, which takes its name from a south London neighbourhood, is releasing its second album, Dear Honoured Listener in time for Record Store Day. (DEREK RUTTAN, The London Free Press)

A poster-couple for Record Store Day in London knows just where their dog named Wilco belongs.

Wilco is looking out as the “cover star” of Westminster Park’s lovely album Dear Honoured Listener.

It’s to be available Saturday — Record Store Day around the universe — when the married duo of Colleen and Steven Murphy perform at 2:30 p.m. at Grooves in downtown London.

A visitor to Westminster Park’s home came away with a vinyl version, Wilco looking fiercely happy and all.

“Vinyl looks amazing — and sounds great,” the Murphys chorused of their decision to go vinyl as well as CD with their second album’s format. “If you’re going to make a record, make a record,” said Steven Murphy.

Record Store Day celebrates indie record stores.

It also honours the passion music lovers like the Murphys bring to the pursuit of special releases and rarities available to those who wait in line on the third Saturday of April.

In London, Westminster Park is among the local heroes with new music to mark the day. Dear Honoured Listener is Westminster Park’s second album

“We always said our album is good to listen to either being alone or with someone you love and drinking a glass of wine — sort of romantic or a little bit sad at times,” Steven Murphy said. “But it’s always personal.”

A chance encounter at a local bar led to romance in life and album-making for Woodstock C.I. grad Colleen, and Kitchener-raised Steven, who went to Laurier secondary school in London. On the first night the two met, Steve said he wanted to make music and Colleen said she could be a backup singer. She wouldn’t mind singing backup for Canadian icon Leonard Cohen at all.

“It kind of went from there as a joke that became how we actually ended up getting together,” Colleen Murphy said.

It’s a moment that may have inspired the new album’s Girl In The Navy Blue Cardigan, where love discovers a way as two like-minded souls find each other “down at the CTO (for) another lovely indie show.”

Like the other songs on Dear Honoured Listener, it’s written and shaped by both of them and was recorded in the basement of their home. They took a week off from their jobs working with a friend, Brandon General, who helped record, mix and produce most of the new album.

“Not to say that we are like that, but when you listen to the Velvet Underground, they have that range where it’s not all the same sound, We like to experiment with different sounds and try something new,” Colleen Murphy said.

The band is named for a south London neighbourhood. The name was also picked partly for its “British tone,” perhaps suggesting “Westminster Abbey.”

A visitor to the Murphy’s house in another part of London found the couple happy to talk about the music they love. The list includes Cohen, honoured with a poster and portrait on the living room wall, the Velvets, One Hundred Dollars, the Grapes of Wrath, Phil Ochs, The Zombies, CBC Radio darlings Lambs and such local heroes as 1990s’ rockers Sanseiru.

Westminster Park’s first album arrived about a decade ago. That self-titled debut is seen spinning behind Wilco on the new album’s cover. The first album’s arrival was delayed until after the launch date when the huge blackout of 2003 shut down the pressing plant Westminster Park was using.

Vinyl mojo can be difficult to secure.

This year, as always, there’s a rush for vinyl when Record Store Day looms.

The Murphys are among the Londoners who did get their vinyl in time.

“We managed to tee this up. We only got the ball rolling at the end of January. A lot of releases don’t get pressed in time,” said Michael Todd, owner of Speed City Records. Todd’s label has a new release by London’s Captain Bringdown and The Buzzkillers as part of its Record Store Day celebrations.

“We’ve got their new four-song, seven-inch vinyl being released exclusively on the Speed City Records label,” Todd said. “We don’t just sell records — we make them.”

Westminster Park has a Record Store Day album, too, and also sells records — via its website.

As you know, the duo has a dog named Wilco.

Colleen Murphy wouldn’t mind getting a second dog and naming it after an iconic British singer-songwriter-activist.

His wife and bandmate would like “a second dog . . . so we can have Billy Bragg and Wilco,” Steven Murphy said.

What: London’s Westminster Park plays Record Store Day gig at Grooves for “soft launch” of its new album. Official record release party is May 3 at the London Music Club, 470 Colborne St. Visit westminsterparkmusic.com for details.

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MEET THE CANADIAN AMBASSADORS

What: Toronto roots rockers Blue Rodeo have been chosen as the official ambassadors of the Canadian edition of Record Store Day 2014, the annual celebration of independent record store.

Video hit: Visit RecordStoreDayCanada.com for video of Blue Rodeo founders Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and Bazil Donovan as they browse some vinyl and interview shoppers about the joys of record collecting.

Elsewhere: Many London outlets, such as City Lights Bookshop, The Beat Goes On and Sunrise Records, have discounts, vinyl deals, rare items and more to celebrate the day. Woodstock’s The Record Works, 399 Dundas St. (Woodstock), has in-store performances, including Zealots Desire, 2 p.m.